Malaysia ‘no’ to UN secretary-general’s plan on terrorism
BY JOHAN FERNANDEZNEW YORK: Malaysia has made it clear it cannot support the United Nations secretary-general’s recommendation on the definition of terrorism as it did not clearly differentiate between terrorism and the legitimate struggles of people fighting for their right to be free of colonial and alien domination, foreign occupation and their right to national liberation.
Its Permanent Representative to the UN Datuk Rastam Mohamed Isa said it also did not address the root causes of terrorism.
“We have noted the important elements on terrorism that are missing in the secretary-general’s report, as pointed out by the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and are willing to discuss these further with the view to ensuring that they are given adequate attention,” he said.
Rastam was speaking at the informal thematic consultations of the General Assembly on the report of the secretary-general entitled In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All on Friday.
He said Malaysia had taken note of the comprehensive strategy on terrorism and would study it further.
“For the moment, we see some parts of the strategy as inadequate.
“For example, it fails to address the root causes of terrorism, political grievances, economic and social marginalisation, regional conflicts and foreign occupation.
“Root causes of terrorism are not founded simply on the belief that the use of terrorist methods can achieve an aim,” he said.
Rastam said Malaysia also took note of the secretary-general’s call for member states to accede to the 12 international conventions on terrorism.
Malaysia is party to five of the conventions and is currently going through the necessary national administrative and legislative procedures on the remaining seven to accede to them before the end of the year.
He said Malaysia was looking to the recommendation regarding the relevant conventions on organised crime and corruption.
Rastam also said that Malaysia could not support the recommendation of the secretary-general for the Security Council to develop guidelines on the use of force.
“Such guidelines, if at all to be developed, should be discussed by the member states in the General Assembly,” he said.
He added that Malaysia agreed with NAM’s proposal for the promotion of a culture of peace as this would be fundamental to the non-use of force.
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